


The Trickster's path

by VincenttheTrickster



Series: Arcana Cycle [1]
Category: Persona Series, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Dark, My Hero Academia Spoilers, Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers, Persona 5: The Royal, Slow Build, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:14:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29130882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VincenttheTrickster/pseuds/VincenttheTrickster
Summary: Ren Amamiya charged with a crime he did not commit. Will he become the villain society see's him as or will he rise above it to become a hero. Or something in between? Fallow his story to find out.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Takamaki Ann, Morgana/Okumura Haru, Niijima Makoto/Sakamoto Ryuji, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Series: Arcana Cycle [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137602
Kudos: 2





	1. The Rebel

**Author's Note:**

> Yo whats up yall this is my first fanfic so any positive feedback  
> is welcomed.  
> This story is a work of fanfiction.  
> All intellectual property of 'Persona 5' belongs to Atlus  
> All intellectual property of 'my hero academia' belongs to Kohei Horikoshi, Studio Bones, and Funimation.  
> I just own my OC's.

A helicopter zoomed above the water as it made its way over to the large city of Tokyo, Japan. Bright colorful lights shone somewhere beyond the city. That source of the light came from a casino that was set in the middle of the city. Inside the casino the patrons were restless as they knew something was inside with them just then three men in black suit's entered looking for someone and above them all were two figure both concealed by the dark rafters, one of whom held a gun pointing it at the other and the other just flicking his finger in a taunting motion.

The one with the gun asked the other "Are you sure?" the other replied "yep." BANG!!! The shot destroyed the wire holding a large part of the rafters to send them plummeting down to the crowd crushing them. The sound of crushing bones and splattering of blood and organs covering all the patrons close by as well as the slot machine giving the light's a red tent. This attracted all of whom where left just as they started to panic one of them looked up to see one of the figure's jumped to a chandelier and the patron said "look there!” all eyes now looked up to see in the light was a figure and he was wearing a black trench coat that flowed about as his red gloves were holding a silver briefcase and on his face was a white and black domino mask that framed his face with a cat-like smirk. One of the three men in suit's put his finger to his ear and said "He's here move in immediately." And the one who spoke into his radio pushed through the crowd and was followed by the other two beside him. The figure standing atop the chandelier gave the suits coming after him a sinister smile and decided to take his leave.

Jumping down to some neon signs and leaving the case hidden the figure started to run and talk to his team "So, how did I do?"  
"Good job' Joker.” replied a boyish voice "Now, get running!"  
"This is your only chance!" said another voice that sounded like the figure with the gun.  
"I know, Crow." replied Joker with a smirk.  
"Joker, we'll retrieve the briefcase on our end." said a girlish voice.  
"He knows Queen." said a different girlish voice with a hint of annoyance.  
But before Queen could respond Joker said "Chill out Terra." Just then a distorted radio transmission was heard in each of the group's radio but the voice that came through was garbled with static.  
"What in the world was that?" Queen asked.  
"I'm not sure..." Joker said. "Are you guys okay?"  
"Don't worry about us, Joker," The boyish voice assured him. "Just concentrate on getting away."  
"Roger!" Joker agreed as he kept up his dash to lead away the suits tailing him. He leaped a couple of platforms as the rest of his friends chatter over the radio.  
"But I have to say, showing yourself above that crowd was an excellent move," The boyish voice praised. "Nice work as always, Joker."  
"I bet Skull wouldn't pull it off that smoothly," Remarked a third girlish voice.  
"This happens because you have no sense for aesthetics," said a boy’s voice.  
"Screw you Fox and nobody asked you, Panther!" replied Skull.  
Joker couldn't help but chuckle at his teams 'banter' to each other as he proceeded his role as the decoy so they can have a chance to escape. He paused in his departure as he spotted more men in suits who had seen him from a balcony overlooking the casino floor. “There he is!"  
"Just run, Joker!" called out the first girl's voice. "Get out of there!"  
"You don't have to tell me twice Oracle!" Joker answered as he hopped to a set of large neon rings to make his way to the balcony.  
"OK, Joker's got the enemies' attention," Stated the boyish voice. "Looks like the rest of us can slip away."  
"Everyone remember where we're meeting up?" A forth girl wondered.  
"No worries, I can guide you all Noir." Oracle assured. Joker landed on the balcony that read 'CASINO' in orange from the top. Joker's escape was cut off when two suited men blocked his path. “Stop right there!/You won't get away!" They both said just then they both started screaming in pain as they'd transform into monster's known as shadow's a third shadow landed right behind Joker who turned to face the third shadow.  
"Take 'em down, Joker!" Panther cheered.

Joker smirked and vaulted onto the shadow. He gripped its mask and tore it off its mask as it changed into a Sacrificial Pyrekeeper. The being before Joker had a head shaped like a bull, its upper body was in a red vest and button up shirt the monster's lower-have legs and tail were all machine as if it had no lower body it's hands gripping a pair of handles, it started to scream at Joker who pulled his gun out and got into a stance to fight the shadow.  
"Comparing power levels..." Oracle quickly examined. "No threat. Get 'em, Joker!" Joker moved his right hand to his own face touching his mask which started to turn in to blue flames. "Ravage them Arsene!" Joker shouted and as he did a phantom appeared behind him, to only charge at the shadow while laughing maniacally. Arsene's claw's started to release some kind of black energy while the shadow mouth started to glow red only to shoot out Condensed’s fire, at Arsene who whet above with a beat of his wing's and Joker rolled to the left while shooting his gun to stun it then did a no-hand backflip and emptied the rest of his magazine in the shadow then Arsene swooped down and beheaded it. The beaten shadow dissipated into a black substance once it was taken out.

"Okay, pull out before their back up gets here," Oracle declared.  
"Impressive, Joker," the boyish voice commented. "You defeated them with ease."  
"Don't be impressed to much Mona," Joker smirk.  
"Hold on!" Oracle exclaimed. "More of them! Be careful!"

Three more shadows appeared before Joker. One leaping at him to land an attack only for the masked young man to do a one-handed backflip to completely avoid it. Joker quickly escaped the rest of the enemies by hopping up to an upper balcony. “Joker, behind you! Go through that door!" Joker knew it was best to do as Oracle said and ran to the door. The door led him in a dark corridor which caused him to pause in his tracks.

"Who turned out the lights?" Joker wondered while looking around.  
"It's all good!" Oracle assured him. "You should be able to get out that way! Hurry!"  
"Dude, can he even hear us!?" Skull questioned.  
"Don't worry, I'm picking up everyone's voices," Oracle mentioned. "Just go, Joker!"  
While going through the pitch-black corridor, he had to sneak past a couple of men in suits which wasn't hard to avoid. Oracle gave him the suggestion to use his grappling hook to latch onto a grated bridge from above him and with the use of his tool, Joker gracefully landed on the bridge.  
"Joker!" Oracle exclaimed. "You need to get out of there! Go go go! Head up the stairs at the end of the path! Just a little more, so hang in there!"

Joker sprinted up the stairs that were just ahead of him. He took cover behind a corner and peaked from it to find any more black suits keeping an eye out for him. It seemed clear so he took his chance and hastened down the hallway. Joker put his back against a wall to shield himself from the workers inside who seemed too busy eyeing their monitors giving him the opportunity to run. Joker knew at least three of the men in black suits were tailing him and thanks to Oracle's instructions, he went up another set of stairs that took him to a door just down the hall. Joker shoved his way through the door as his hands caught the rail.

"Something wrong?" Oracle asked. "The exit should be just up ahead."  
"Through there?" Joker wondered as he brought his eyes toward a large bright, rainbow-colored window. "Oracle, is that window my only way out of here?"  
"That's just how it is," Oracle affirmed. "After that commotion, the floor below is-"  
"Completely closed off," Queen voiced.  
"Hey, can you make it?" Panther asked.  
"Don't sell me short all at once," Joker added confidently. "Of course, I can make it."  
"Over there!" one of the men chasing Joker announced as he and another duo with him were pointing pistols at Joker. "There's nowhere to run!"

Joker only smirked and leaped onto the railing and scurried across and sprung to another railing leaving him right in front of his escape exit. Two other men went to corner him while the lead one in dark shades kept his gun trained on Joker. “See ya," Joker bid his farewell to his pursuers and crashed through the window, his arms over his head to avoid the shards of glass. Screams of surprise can be heard inside as Joker spun elegantly through the air while the moon shone brightly behind him.

"What a showoff," Oracle remarked with a scoff.  
"You're so reckless, you know that?" Panther added as Joker touched down with a roll and reverted into a crouched pose.  
"I believe the correct word would be cool Panther," Joker quipped as some glass shards fell around him. He rose up straight as several bright lights blinded him. The problem was not just the lights but also the horde of police and some pro hero's staring at him.

"Enemies here?" Oracle questioned in concern.  
"What's wrong?" Crow wondered.  
"These readings! It can't be!" Oracle said.  
"What happened?" Skull exclaimed.  
"An ambush!" Panther gasped.  
"Joker, can you handle this!?" Mona asked.  
"Joker!" Fox called.  
"Oh no!" Noir screamed.  
"Joker!" Queen yelled. "What are you waiting for? RUN!"

But all Joker did was smirk sinisterly and said "Let's see what there made of, shall we?" while pulling out his pistol in his left hand and a dagger in his right hand. A hero with yellow and black strip jumpsuit named Swallow yelled "Xless pin him down" Xless and the police started to shoot at Joker who jumped forward with all manner of elegantly stylish flip's and roll's. As Joker reached the police line two hero's called Samurai and Chainsaw-man started to intervene before Joker could attack the police and backline hero's. Chainsaw-man had three chainsaw's on his body and wore a plane white dress shirt and a black tie with black business pants his chainsaw where inside his arms and his head is in the shape a chainsaw motor and all, Samurai was wearing a black and yellow traditional samurai armor. Chainsaw-man swung with his right chainsaw at Joker who then nimbly evaded and countered with four point-blank shots to his head motor which jammed it. Samurai held out his right hand and Joker started to be forcibly pulled towards him as Joker reached him he sliced off both his middle and ring fingers. And as Samurai recoiled in pain all so that Joker could grabbed his helmet and fling himself up in the air to throw it at Xless staggering him to give himself time to twirl his dagger upside down to attack, Joker looked down at Samurai and stabbed downward but Samurai held both of his hand in front of his face to stop the Dagger from going in to his right eye. Chainsaw-man then came back to shred Joker in half. So Joker let go his dagger and held out his right hand and said "Eiga" to fired off the same black energy at Chainsaw-man who attempted to dodge but the beam split into multiple stream's which then pierced Chainsaw-man in multiple places. As Joker landed he then jumped again to throw his grappling hook to latch it around Xless neck, which then Joker said "Zionga!" and as he said this sparks started to fly off of the wire and shocked Xless to unconsciousness. And with a flick of his wrest the grappling hook returned to Joker but now he was surrounded by so many police officers. Joker then kneeled to put his right hand on the ground the officers looked at him with suspicion but it was all a ploy to buy himself time to cast "Materazi!” The ground then started to ripple in all directions as spikes started to injure the police but all the hero's present saved them and when they looked back Joker was gone. Joker looked down from the fire escape he used for his disappearing act and starting making his up it. He smirked knowing it will take the police and heroes far too long to actually follow him. Once he was nearing the top of the building, he saw s.w.a.t. officers up there waiting for him.

Joker gasped as one of the officers rammed the butt of his rifle into his face causing him to fall right in the crowd below.  
"Suspect secure!" exclaimed one of the officers. A detective stepped through the crowd and stopped beside Joker who was held down.  
"Didn't expect the find some kid," the Detective said. "You have your teammate to thank for this." he mentioned as he knelt down to grasp Joker by the head. "You were sold out."  
"What...?" Joker wondered. "What do you-" he didn't get to finish as the police pulled him up by his arm.  
"Suspect confirmed! Cuff him!"  
Handcuffs were placed around Joker's wrist and just like that, the leader of the Phantom Thieves had been arrested.

Bright lights, the smell of burned skin, a throbbing pain in his body, and the cold. That was all he could feel 'Where am I?' he think's as he rises his head Joker sees  
The room was so cramped dimly lit and cold to almost freezing, to his left was a disfigured man whom was cleaning blood from his tool and from what Joker could see a set of finger and toe nails as well a jar full of some type of dark red centipede. With this information he looked down to see he was covered in his own blood and his fingers to see no nails as well in his ankle were two bolt screw. It was hard to focus with his head being so heavy. And his right arm felt like dead weight from all the injections they administered.

“Guess the drug was too strong. Wake him up.”  
He found out that in waking him meant torturing him in the form of a bucket of cold salt water being dumped on him. As he raised his head more to see who was responsible, his mind became a bit clearer. He had a sense of depth and spatial awareness. As though the world had just become real. It was hard to see much of anything though. Everything was blurry and lacked any solid definition. Very faintly could he make out a white device in the top left-hand corner of the room. With the little flashing red light, he presumed it was a security camera. Beneath it was a man in a suit staring at him disapprovingly, of course two other men shared his displeasure. One stood in the back, looking down at him through his glasses. The one closest to him was the biggest of the three. Chin the size of a barn, rivaling that of… someone. Someone else had a big chin who also pissed him off. The drug or whatever they had stuck into him only made him feel sluggish. His whole body ached as though he had the flu though it was probably better to assume it was from the beatings they had administered beforehand. His whole face ached bruises and scuffs under his cheeks, on his forehead even a nasty looking black eye. Someone had just completely laid him out he pinned the blame on the big meathead in front of him. “No dozing off,” the big one said gruffly slowly did his arms regrow their sense of feeling, and he tested them out. To make sure nothing had been broken the cuffs held him in place with vice-like attention even as he struggled. “You still don’t get it, do you? Give it up!”  
The man planted his heavy foot right into his midsection. He landed right on his right cheek, chin tapping the floor and wrestling a wince of pain through his gritted teeth twitching. Joker felt something start to move in his midsection as well intense pain he then remembered the jar of dark red centipede. And as his a sense of horror grow so did the pain, only to stop the twitching to feel the boot of the man pressing on his neck blocking his airway. Whatever chair they had cuffed him to was cheap as can be, nearly splintering to pieces when he hit the ground. Slowly it all began to come back little by little, at a snail’s pace. Hard to make sense out of what he remembered in totality as he was still heavily inebriated by the drug. The entire SWAT team armed with military weapon had taken turns pummeling him into submission until they grow tired. Just then the boot on his neck was released “Come on,” the man growled before planting his foot right onto his head. Keeping him pinned as though he had any chance of retaliation in his state. The drugs, the cuffs It was like kicking a kitten.

“Cooperate! Or what, you want another shot?” Joker spat onto the floor and was relieved to see no blood. Thank goodness his teeth and tongue were still in one piece.  
“You feel proud of yourself, asshole?” he growled out clenching his teeth. “Beating up a teenager? Big man like you? You compensating for something on your end?” The agent merely ground his heel into Joker’s cheek. It burned to have the leather rub so coarsely against his bare skin.  
“You got a real attitude problem, kid,” the agent huffed with growing annoyance. “Lucky for you that I beat the attitude out of little shits like you.”  
“Oh I’m sure you do,” Joker shot back as dryly as possible. “Beating up teenagers to make you feel like a big tough guy, huh?" "Since you like brutality so much, why don’t you fuck off over to America?" "I hear they shoot kids all the time for sport there so you’d fit right in.” The agent just continued grinding his heel while Joker kept digging himself deeper and deeper. Even in his altered and roughed-up state, he wouldn’t lay down and take it. Joker spat at him. To show his spirit would never be snuffed out. From on the ground, he was able to get a better vantage point of the room. The security camera was honed in on the both of them, the agent roughing him up followed his line of sight to the device in question.

“Huh? What about the camera? Are you thinking it can be used as video evidence?” He grabbed a fistful of Jokers curly hair and forced him to face.  
“Of course not,” Joker scoffed. “Don’t make me laugh. I know you’re just watching this to get your kicks."  
"Then you’ll wipe it clean before anybody has a chance to catch you. You cops are sneaky bastards after all."  
“So you’re not that dumb. Which is good. Cause we get to take as much time as we NEED!” He slammed his head back down onto the ground, following it up with another kick in the stomach to get another fit of twitching. “You’ll learn real fast that there are no laws here that will protect criminals like you.”  
“They only… protect criminals on the payroll. And the powerful…” He coughed up some more spit and found himself wheezing. While their captive writhed on the ground in pain, the lead agent was passed a clipboard by the one in glasses.  
“Obstruction of justice, blackmail, defamation, possession of weapons, resisting arrest, injuring an officer as well as heroes, and manslaughter too, yeah? Talk about the works." He listed them all off like it was a casual talk at the water cooler.

“Guess we’re not so different, you and I,” Joker sneered through a toothy gritted smile biting back the pain shrieking through his body.  
“Do you ever stop talking, kid?” the big agent asked, holstering his thumbs on his belt. Joker let out a wheezing chuckle and tried to prop himself up by his elbow.  
“Thought the whole purpose of this was to get me to talk. Getting mixed signals over here.” Joker said sarcastically the lead agent shook his head as he looked down upon him.  
“To think that all those crimes were led by a punk like this…” he mused to himself. “And you seemed to be enjoying every second of it, huh?” In all his years, he never thought he’d behold a sight such as this. The world's most wanted criminal and terrorist a mere boy wheezing, wet, and beaten on the ground. And at their mercy, like a cornered little rat. “You should know your place.” He cocked his head to the agent in glasses who reluctantly shuffled over to him. Joker was relieved to feel the cuffs finally be removed, though he could feel the bruises on his wrist from them. It was a short relief as the other two agents threw him by his arms back onto the ground. “Sign here.” The lead agent hovered the clipboard in front of him like he was a dog being offered a treat. “It’s a confession under your name.”

“Go fuck yourself.” Joker slapped the clipboard out of his face with a flick of his wrist.  
“I see…” the agent said with an annoyed grimace. Though in truth he was starting to enjoy how difficult this kid was making it. It made kicking the life out of him all the more enjoyable. “I need your hand to sign this…” He slammed his foot onto his right knee and poured the pressure on. Leaning into it with all his body weight while Joker winced and struggled. Weakly did he try to lift the foot off, but that only served to make him press down harder. “But I don’t care if you end up losing a leg.  
Now let’s try that again…” With a smug smirk, the agent locked eyes with him and passed over the clipboard with a shiny pen. Its silver sheen reflected light off its surface,  
Showing his crimson red eyes and as the agent stood Joker grabbed his tie to stab the pen in his right eye. Only to have the two agents behind the big one start to kick Joker in retaliation. Once the big one recovered he grabbed piece of the broken metal chair to beat him, he likely would have kept at it until Joker was dead. Except a banging at the door caught there attention

“Goddamnit, what now?” the lead agent asked with heavy breathing and annoyance. He was just starting to have fun, the agent with the glasses held a hand to his earpiece.  
“It’s Niijima, sir,” he clarified which earned an annoyed growl from their leader.  
“What does that cunt want? Thought she was kicked off the investigation.” the leader said.  
“Seems they put her back on, sir. SIU Director’s orders.” A heavy sigh escaped the biggest of the three he started to move towards the door, deciding to go to the doctor to remove the pen from his eye. And with a wave of his hand the disfigured man rolled his torture cart out while other agents forced Joker to somewhat stand but with the bolts in his ankles they had to drag him to the chair by the investigation table. 

The agents traded hands with Niijima Sae, she was quite the looker Joker had to admit. She wore a suit well and her long silver hair shimmered in the lighting. The older woman sat back in her chair with folded arms, sizing him up coldly. Like she was about to dissect a rodent. “I didn’t expect it’d be you,” she admitted. She had already come to know a little information on him from the records she scrounged up. Amamiya Ren, transfer student on probation and staying under Sakura Sojiro. Crime was aggravated assault and was expelled from his previous school to live in Tokyo for a year. Near perfect attendance at Shujin Academy with all straight B’s found predominantly at Leblanc.

“You will be answering my questions this time.” she said  
"Oh, I will mmm..." He said with a smirk  
"I mean your friends gave it their best shoot." He craned his head down towards the floor. She followed its direction and was appalled to see several syringes completely drained.  
“Those bastards… Can you hear me?" "It seems you’ve been through a lot.”  
“You got some interesting friends here, Niijima. Beating up minors, drugging them against their will, threatening to break their legs Tokyo’s finest.”  
“I can assure you I had nothing to do with their methods,” she insisted indignantly. She was a good cop and wouldn’t be judged by the likes of this vigilante punk. “Almost anything can happen here, and I can’t stop them.”  
“I’m not accusing you of anything,” Ren assured her with a smile. “I know exactly what kind of person you are, Niijima.” She narrowed her eyes at him with great suspicion. He was already treading on thin ice.  
“And what does that mean?” She demanded.  
“This isn’t about you, now is it? It’s about me.” he smugly rebuked. She merely shook her head and sighed.  
“That’s why I need you to answer me honestly. I don’t have much time. What was your objective? Why did you cause such a major incident? I didn’t think it was a prank from the get-go, but I couldn’t assemble a case for prosecution. It’s because I couldn’t figure out the method behind it.”  
“Of course you couldn’t,” He said.  
“True.” She had to admit he was amusing in his own way. “There’s no way I could be convinced of such a… “world” just by reading the reports.”  
“Well, I can assure you it’s the real deal. As far as how real? Well, you’ll never know…” His right lip curled up into an amused smirk.  
“It seems you’re coherent. When and where did you find out about that world? How is it even possible to steal another’s heart? Now, tell me your account of everything. Start from the very beginning.”


	2. The rebel's new start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set up chapter that it.

It always starts with a bright blue butterfly that’s how Ren Amamiya knew this dream or nightmare was starting again.  
It starts out with him watching himself walking in an ally way from his girlfriend’s house to his house but his body stops when he hears a shout saying.

“Just get in the car.” As he hears this he starts listing to hear more.

He then hears a women scream “Stop it!!!”

As Ren hears this his dream body starts to run but as he runs his vision starts to blur and as it does he sees flashes of the past, of happier simpler times.  
Playing with his childhood friend Momo, his big sister Hana and his younger sister Ava who died at the age of four.  
The flashes stop as Rens dream body approaches three people a drunk man forcing a woman in his limousine with the driver standing by the door holding it open for them and as Ren is standing there watching his thoughts at the time echo loudly for all to hear but no one but himself reacted.  
“She’s in danger/I can’t ignore this” almost deafening Ren more flashes this time a truck.  
Ava running to catch up to Ren, Hana screaming “Stop running-“the feeling of warm liquid, Hands covered in blood.  
The flashes fade as well as the echoes to let Ren see and hear the night his life changed forever.  
The drunk man pulled at her white blouse the buttons falling to the pavement bouncing and rolling.  
Their impact resounding as they rolled onto the street.   
The politician groped at her exposed bra and saying “Stop wasting my time you cunt! Incompetent fools like you just need to shut your mouths and fallow where I steer this country!” 

As this women tried to push the drunk off she lock eyes with Ren saying “help me!” wishing for a hero.  
That night she mistook Ren for her hero, believing a teenage boy could somehow save her from this powerful politician.  
The groping stopped the man straightened up to turn his head towards the driver and asked.“Who is it?”  
“A boy sir.” The driver said

The man slowly turned around to Ren and said "What are you looking at? Get lost, kid. This ain't a show."  
Ren said nothing just stared at them all but further behind them two policemen and an off duty hero stepped around the corner onto the street to no one’s knowing.  
The man started to shout saying “Didn’t you hear meeee boy! Do you need me to teach you some mannerssss?”  
The drunken words came out like a snake and all Ren said to this is “Go fuck yourself.”  
A fist swung at Ren but in slow motion and before Ren could react the blue butterfly appeared calming Ren for him to awoke in a train with music play in his ears while his eyes are opening.

Ren blearily blinked when orange sunlight filtered into the train’s windows bright and dazing.  
The sunlight went away with a few blinks, revealing a city skyline in the distance.  
Tokyo Ren pulled out both of his bluetoon and put them in the casing while pulling up his map app on his phone to check how much longer it would be.  
He then rubbed his eyes noticing it was still blurry. How long was he asleep? He wondered but before he could check his phone.  
The train’s P.A speakers begun to hummed. “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for riding with us today. We will be arriving at Shibuya shortly. This is the last stop for this line, please transfer there for all subway rides. The doors to your left will open."  
While rubbing his face Ren detected mini-trembles in his hands.  
That night still bothering him. The turning point of his life that got him a criminal record and put on probation.  
And before his father even signed his bail, word had gotten out to town.  
What started out as helping someone turned into social suicide.  
His school expelled him, Ren's girlfriend dumped him, and all of his small group of friends stopped talking to him.  
The worst part was the fallout with his parents. To help soften Ren's downfall, his parents decided he would move away for a year.  
He was supposed to spend a year with a man named Sakura Sojiro, who would act as his guardian and ensure Ren would follow protocol during his probation.

"What? Are you for real? A mental shutdown?” Ren’s eyes flicked left. Two schoolgirls. Their uniforms did not look anything like the ones in the school pamphlet he was given.  
"It's the truth!" Replied the other. "There are even cases where people go crazy and start attacking people!"  
"That's gotta be a joke. You really love all that occult stuff, don't you?" the first replied  
"Cause its cool!" Both the girls laughed.

That's high school girls for you. Ren thought while putting his phone to sleep.  
He then frowned at what they were talking about.  
After a few minutes of waiting the train came to a stop.  
He quickly collected his belongings and exited the subway.  
But Before Ren changed trains for his destination, he made a stop to Shibuya's local burger joint, Big Bang Burger.  
He skipped breakfast and lunch that day not feeling the need to eat after no goodbyes from his parents.  
Ren sipped his sprite as he checked his bank balance on a phone app. Well at least he won't need to worry about money.  
His father might be angry at him, but his pride and love? Ren hoped.

Saw to it that money was taken care of for him.  
As Ren left the burger joint he stopped and pulled out his phone to check the directions when suddenly, a mysterious twisted looking icon appeared on his phone's map.  
It suddenly grew so Ren could get a better look at it. It was in the shape of a red and black eyeball with a star for it pupil as it covered the entire map.  
He tapped on it, hoping to be rid of it so he could return to his map.  
Nothing happened so he tapped it a few more times and nothing happened.  
Ren then noticed that something was wrong, there was no noise in the middle of Shibuya.  
He looked around to see that everyone suddenly stopped moving as if time itself had ceased to function.  
What the hell? He thought as he looked around.  
Suddenly he looked across the street to see blue flames off in the distance.  
Consuming the people and transforming into a humanoid creature with wings.  
As Ren looked at the creature unbeknownst to him he started to smile.  
But his face didn’t match his heart which felt fear, adrenaline but most of all desire.  
Then suddenly the fire cleared and Ren was met with an exact mirror of himself with blood red eyes grinning madly.  
And with a blue flash time suddenly continued.

He looked around to see that people had not noticed what he had noticed and simply chalked it up as a hallucination.  
And as he stood there composing himself he thinks It was probably the lack of sleep, he assured himself.  
Insomnia and disturbing dreams were making him hallucinate.  
Plus, it was better he didn’t draw any kind of attention to himself.  
He then checked his phone to see that strange looking eyeball still on his map.  
He pressed his finger against the app and tossed it into the trash bin to get a better look at the map.  
After taking the next train, he finally arrived in Yongen-Jaya.

The backstreets of Yongen-Jaya were cast in muted colors by the overhead grey sky. It appeared to be a quiet neighborhood and thankfully it wasn't as crowded as Shibuya. Bicycles and scooters parked on the side of alleys, next to corner shops. Just from entering, Ren could already see a small supermarket and a cinema. Ren's eyes dropped from the sky and powerlines running haphazardly at the top. He decided he liked the somber charm of the place. Maybe this was not going to be bad after all.  
As he was unfamiliar with the area he checked his phone once more for directions.  
Starting today, Sojiro Sakura will be taking care of me. He thought as he checked his phone.  
His house should be in the backstreets of this residential area, so likely in an alley.  
Ren approached a police officer talking to a small time hero who looked like he had been in better moods.  
"Yes?" the hero asked  
"Excuse me, sir. Would you happen to know where Sakura Sojiro’s house is?" asked Ren.  
"It's in an alley a bit further back. Take a right after that apartment complex with the stairs," said the police officer.  
"Thank you." Ren said.

As he walked around, admiring the various shops the neighborhood had to offer. The area had a local grocery store, a second-hand store, as well as a batting cage.  
As he walked down the street tidbits of conversation dropped on Ren's ears.  
"The police and heroes are so lazy, they're just stealing taxpayer's money."  
"No one has been taking responsibility. It's a waste of time to dwell on it." Even the consciousness of society was not cheery ether.  
Ren felt like there was something off about Japan lately.

He followed the officer directions and turned to his right and came to a house which had a 'SAKURA SOJIRO' nameplate in the front. He rang the buzzer no answer.  
A delivery truck was there, probably delivering a package.  
Maybe he's gone out? Ren thought.  
"Seems like no one's home." He heard.  
He turned around to see the owner of that delivery truck approaching the house with a package.  
"Sakura-san's usually at his cafe around this time. If you're looking for him, Leblanc's in the alley near the Tobacco stand."  
"Thank you, sir." Ren bowed politely before making his way back.  
He remembered passing by that alley as he looked for Sakura-san's house so this Leblanc was probably there.  
He walked back down to where he started and found the alley near the Tobacco stand.  
He walked down and found the cafe in question.  
"Coffee & Curry Cafe Leblanc." He read the sign out loud.

He then opened the door and entered the cafe. The place had an old school vibe to it that Ren quite liked. Accompanied by the pleasant aroma of foam and coffee beans.  
Booths lined the left side of the chop while an eloquently maintained wooden bar stocked with various beans in jars behind it sat to the right.  
At the beginning of the bar sat a yellow telephone, and a television droned on behind the bar with the station set to the local news as he stood in the entrance way.  
He was met with an older looking gentleman with slicked-back dark hair with a receding hairline, gray eyes that matched his own, a chinstrap beard with a goatee that flares out, and glasses. Beneath his black apron, he sported a pink collared shirt and khakis.  
He seemed woefully disinterested in everything going on around him as he read the paper he was holding, either reading the news or trying to solve crossword puzzles.  
He was so engrossed in it that he hadn't realized that Ren had entered his cafe.  
But, they weren't alone as Ren spotted an elderly couple taking and enjoying their coffee.

They stopped talking when the T.V. said "A public Transit bus was driven down an opposing lane with its customers still in it."  
He heard a tabloid show host give the latest news. "The citizens can't live in peace if this keeps up.  
"How frightening." The elderly man said.  
"Didn't something similar happen just the other day?" His wife questioned  
"What's the world coming to these days?" Her husband wondered as he let out a sigh.  
Ren knew what the discussion was about.  
It was about those mysterious mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns that have been plaguing Japan for the last couple years.  
Apparently there were cases where people would just mysteriously shut down or where people would randomly go crazy and attack anyone on sight only to not remember anything if they’d recover. And people are becoming fearful and restless because of it.

"Hmm." Ren looked over at the man engrossed in the newspaper. He must be Sojiro Sakura.  
"Vertical is... the name of a shellfish used for farming pearls?"  
"Oyster." Ren gave the man the answer he was looking for.  
As soon as he heard the answer from the young man that entered his cafe, he looked over at him in surprise before looking back to the newspaper.  
He wrote down the answer and it fit perfectly.

"Hey, thanks, kid. Anyway, what can I..." He looked at the boy again before noticing the date on the news paper he realized just who had walked into his cafe.  
"Oh, right. That was supposed to be today." He placed the newspaper on the bar counter, making a mental note of where to continue before standing up.  
"We'll be going now." The elderly man said as he and his wife finished their drinks and stood up as well to leave the establishment.  
"The payment is on the table."  
"Thanks for coming." The owner gave the couple a customer service smile.  
"This place is in the back alley, so a car's not likely to crash into the place." The elderly man made a comment.  
"Crash?" He replied.  
"There's been a string of those rampage accidents, you know. I just hope that none happen around here." The elderly man said with a look of worry.  
"It's none of my concern." He stated.  
"Haha, we'll see you next time." The elderly man said as he and his wife made for the exit.  
"Have a good day." She said to both Ren and the cafe owner as she and her husband left the cafe

Once they were gone, the cafe owner dropped his customer service smile and let out an annoyed groan as he went to collect his payment from the booth, scratching the back of his head.  
Something told Ren this was the sort of person who was very private with his own affairs.  
"Four hours for a single cup of joe. So, you're Ren?" asked the manager.  
"Yes. Please take care of me," said Ren with a slight bow.  
"Uh huh . . . I’m Sakura Sojiro. You'll be in my custody over the next year," said Sojiro.

He ran his eyes up and down Ren, trying to measure the kind of guy he was.  
Pretty plane for a delinquent Sojiro thought.  
Ren was wearing bulky glasses that hide his eyes, an unbuttoned black blazer, over a black-trimmed cream sweater, blue jeans and brown shoes.  
“The glasses are new?” Sojiro notes to himself.  
"I was wondering what kind of unruly kid would show up, but you're the one, huh? Well, me and your mother knew each other and . . . .well not that it matters. Follow me."

As Sojiro gestured for him to follow, Ren walked behind him as the two made their way up the stairs.  
When they arrived, they were both met with a dusty and cluttered attic.  
Full of boxes, unpackaged books, a dusty sofa, household items, and garbage bags.  
Judging from the lack of smell, it's likely that the bags were filled with other items and not garbage.  
A box laid in the middle of the room, probably filled with Ren's belongings and additional clothes.  
He looked toward the far corner near the window and saw a bed covered in dust.

"This is your room. I'll at least give your sheets for your bed," said Sojiro. Ren kept his face neutral.  
"Hmm? You look like you wanna say something," remarked Sojiro.  
"It's big," said Ren.  
"It's on you to clean up the rest. I'll be leaving after I lock up each day. You might be alone at night, but that doesn't mean you're allowed to do anything stupid. I'll throw you out if you cause any trouble." said Sojiro. Ren only nodded.  
"Now, let's get the gist of your situation. You played the hero when some guy was forcing himself on a woman, he gets hurt, then sues you. Right? Why would you stick your nose in a matter between two adults? You did injure him, yeah? And after getting that criminal record, you were expelled from your high school. But your parents' influence helped make a deal with the school that you would be sent away for a year, to let the heat on your reputation die down. And once that happened you could go back to your school. Or to put it another way, they got rid of you for being a pain in the ass."  
"It's best you don't say or do anything unnecessary. I'm in the restaurant business, so any delinquency affects me. You keep your head down for a year, kid, and maybe, your probation will be lifted."  
"I understand," Ren said quietly.  
"And don't forget, we'll be going to Shujin tomorrow," said Sojiro.  
Ren read the school's pamphlet on the train. Shujin Academy.  
Apparently it only accepts the quirkless and was one of the best schools for them to even rival with U.A.  
With it student body going on to mostly be very successful.  
"It's of very rare circumstances they'd accept someone like you. But I guess you can thank your stars for being born as a rich kid, whose family has connections. We'll properly introduce ourselves to the staff then." said Sojiro before letting out another groan. "What a waste of my Sunday."  
Ren adjusted his glasses to hide his expression from the cafe owner.  
“Good to see I’m not wanted here either.” Ren thought to himself.  
"Your luggage arrived earlier. I left it over there." He said as Sojiro made his way over to the stairs.  
"I have to get back to work."And with that, he was gone.  
"let's get this room cleaned up." He stated with determination.

He went over to the pile of household items to see if Sojiro owned any cleaning items. Fortunately, he found a feather duster, a mop, and a bucket. The first thing he did was go downstairs and fill up the bucket with water. After doing so, he set the bucket in the middle of the room. He opened the box filled with his belongings and placed them on the table next to the staircase where he placed his school uniform. Once he did, he put the box into the shelf near the sofa. He started cleaning the windows using the feather duster, making sure to get every nook and cranny of the window. After that was done, he placed it back with the other household items and then took off the dusty bed sheets off of his mattress. He placed those dusty sheets into the shelf, next to the box and replaced them with the clean sheets Sojiro provided for him. He then readied his mop to finish the job. Utilizing the bucket, he mopped the floor, making sure everything was spotless. After he finished, he looked around the room, proud of his work. He looked out the window and saw that nighttime had come. It appears he had been cleaning for a few hours.

"What the heck is going on up there?" He heard Sojiro's voice as the man came up to check on him.  
"Wow, I heard you make all sorts of noise but I didn't think you were cleaning." He made a point to look around the room and saw that it was completely dust-free.  
With that in mind, he smiled.  
"Not bad, kid. Not bad at all." He gave his approval.  
"Thanks. Although, I still have much to take care of," said Ren, gesturing to the ladder and boxes.  
"Though it's only natural you'd want to keep your room clean.” Sojiro nodded.  
Anyway, I'm locking up for the night. Make sure you're up and ready in the morning," said Sojiro.

When Sojiro was gone Ren decided he'd probably get the rest of the cleaning done later.  
He set the alarm on his phone and placed it on the mattress.  
He went through his luggage and found his Pajamas and turned off the lights.  
It wasn't ideal sure, but at least he had a place to stay.  
Ren collapsed onto his bed. The mattress made an odd sound.  
As he laid down on his bed, he thought over everything that had happened to him, the events that led him to transfer schools and move to Tokyo.

"A criminal record, mmm?" He thought out loud to himself.  
"Even so, what... what that man tried to do. I couldn't just... walk away right?” Ren looked out the window.  
To the moon part of him was still in shock at how quickly his life had changed.  
Ren's phone beeped. Did his parents message him? He grabbed it from the mattress to see.  
Nope. But it was that same red eye app.  
Didn't I delete you? He thought.  
Ren deleted the app again and restarted his phone.  
That should hopefully get rid of it.  
His eyelids grew heavy. Ren fell asleep, into a world that was in between reality and dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a vary long chapter i know but well it a set up chapter.  
> Also sorry about not posting in a awhile i can only do this when i have a day off from work.  
> I tried to include my hero as much as i can but for yall to know the timeline this would happen in the second year of class 1-a.And if your caught up with the manga then you should know that the war didn't happen yet.  
> but yea if you have any questions just ask and il answer them that is if it doesn't have a spoiler for this flic.


	3. The velvet room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ren wake up in a blue room, introduce himself to the school, and makes a friend.

Ren awoken to the sound of rattling chains water dripping in a sink as he looked around and saw that he was no longer in the safe confines of his bed in the attic of Cafe Leblanc. Indeed, he wasn't even in the same bed. As he looked down, he found himself in a black and white prisoner uniform similar to what prison inmates wear in cartoons.  
Upon closer inspection he realized that his hands and legs were bound by chains. He immediately got up to collect his thoughts and get his bearings.  
As he looked around he found himself in some sort of cells with chains hanging from the ceiling. Just then, his thoughts were interrupted by a mysterious giggling. He looked past the cell and saw two little girls staring at him. He got up from the bed and walked over to them clutching the bars. The one on his left had a long braid, giving him a blank stare but the one on his right had hair buns and gave him a mocking smirk. What they both had in common was the same yellow color of their eyes and both had a black eye patch with the letter "V" over one of their eyes.And both had blue prison guard outfit.With one of them having "O-Y-O-O” written across her hat and the other one to his right had on her hat having "X-M-R-N” written.

Oxymoron? Ren thought but before Ren could ask them a question.  
The two moved out of the way and another figure entered the picture.  
He sat at the table with his hands folded a menacing smirk painting his face the most notable feature was his abnormally long nose.  
"Trickster… Welcome to my Velvet Room." He greeted.  
"Trickster?" He questioned, wondering why he called him that.  
"So you've come to, Inmate." The girl on the right said.  
"The you, in reality, is currently fast asleep." The one on the left explained. "You're only experiencing this as a dream."  
"A dream?" Ren asked.  
"You're in the presence of our master. Stand up straight!" The girl on the right demanded  
As Ren looked over at the long-nosed man, it appeared he had a few words for him.  
"Welcome. I am delighted to make your acquaintance." He started. "This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a contract may enter."

"A... contract?" Ren asked only for some flashes to show an old forgotten memory.  
A fair of some kind from his childhood as he, momo, Ava and Hana went to. Ren got separated from the group but came across a tent that was made of velvet blue  
and as for the one running it he was hidden beneath a large hood and playing with some cards as Ren approached he said.  
"Would you be interested in playing a game?"  
"What game?" A young Ren asked.  
"A very fun and interesting game." The hooded man said  
Ren liked interesting games so he said "Your on, let's play!"  
"Very well sign here please." The hooded man said while pulling out a pen and paper as if from nowhere.  
And Ren sign without another word the hooded man then said "The contract has been sealed."  
The flashes then ended to let the long nosed man talk as if he was waiting for them to finish.  
"I am Igor. The master of this place. Remember it well." He told the Ren. "I summoned you to speak of important matters. It involves your life as well."  
"Important matters?" Ren asked curiously but it seemed Igor's thoughts were on something else.  
"Still, this is a surprise." He said, looking around the room. "The state of this room reflects the state of your own heart. To think a prison would appear as such. You truly are a prisoner of fate. In the near future, there is no mistake that ruin awaits you."  
"Ruin?" Ren wondered. "What ruin?"  
"I speak of the end to everything." He said before explaining in great detail. "However, there is a means to oppose such a fate. You must be rehabilitated. Rehabilitated toward freedom. That is your only means to avoid ruin. Do you have the resolve to challenge the distortion of the world?"  
"Allow me to observe the path of your rehabilitation." Just then, the little girls turned to face Ren. "Ah, pardon me for not introducing the others. To your right is Caroline; to your left, Justine. They serve as wardens here.  
"Wardens?" He wondered.  
"Hmph, try and struggle as hard as you like." Caroline mocked  
"The duty of wardens is to protect inmates. We are also your collaborators." Justine explained. "That is if you remain obedient."  
"I shall explain the roles of these two at another occasion," Igor said and the twin wardens turned to face their master. "Now then, it seems the night is waning. It is almost time. Take your time to slowly come to understand this place. We will surely meet again, eventually…"  
Once he finished, the sound of an alarm entered his ears.  
"Time's up. Now hurry up and go back to sleep." Caroline demanded.  
But he before Ren could do anything darkness had consumed his vision.

The sudden ringing and vibration of his cell phone woke him up from a deep slumber.  
Suddenly he found himself back into the attic that was now his room.  
He took out his cell phone and looked at the time.  
What a strange dream. Ren thought.  
He thought about it more but then he remembered that he was going to Shujin today so he had to get ready. He got up from his bed and changed into his school uniform.  
"Looks like you're up." He heard Sojiro walking up the stairs.  
Only this time the cafe owner graced him with a different outfit then what he wore the other day.  
A white two-buttoned blazer and a white trilby with a red-white-and-blue striped hat band.  
"Well then, let's go introduce ourselves properly to the staff about your transfer.The school you're attending is in the Aoyama district. It'll cost you a bit to ride the train there and the route transfers are a pain. I'll drive you there, but just for today, Let's go."  
"All right." Ren stood up as he and Sojiro made their way down the stairs  
"Sheesh… I don't really allow men in my passenger seat." The cafe owner complained.

Traffic wasn't too friendly for them even though it was early in the morning.  
As soon as they arrived Ren got a look at the school, his new school Shujin Academy.  
Before they entered the school, Sojiro stopped him for a quick talk.  
"Do me a favor and behave yourself, all right?" He asked him "It's just a quick meeting so don't say or do anything stupid."  
"Understood," Ren answered. As soon as he gave his lecture, Sojiro made his way up the steps Ren followed after him as the two entered Shujin Academy.  
They reached the principal's office where Sojiro was given some papers to sign. In the office was the principal who turned out to be a very overweight man along with a woman with unkempt brown hair and dark eyes. She wore a yellow long-sleeved shirt striped with white and red horizontal lines, a blue denim skirt, and white kitten heel shoes. Due to her presence in the room, it was very likely that this woman will be Ren's homeroom teacher.  
Once Sojiro was finished, the Principal turned to face the boy "Just so we're clear young man, you will be expelled immediately if you cause any problems." He warned him. "To be honest, I hesitated on accepting someone like you, the only reason you're permitted to be here is because of a sizeable donation your mother made to the school. Money is all that validates a convict like you to stand in my sight," said the principal.  
"Yes, sir." Ren gave a polite bow but for how he felt was that anything he said would fuel the image of an arrogant rich brat who got violent easily. The violent part bothered Ren since he was already suppressing the desire to aggressively snap back at everyone who was getting on his case.  
"Good to hear." He smiled before turning to the woman next to him. "This is the teacher in charge of your class."  
As Ren looked at her, she finally rose her head to meet his eyes.  
"I'm Kawakami Sadayo." She introduced herself. "Here's your student ID."  
She placed it on the table for him as well as a pink slip of paper but before any one noticed she grabbed it.  
Ren grabbed it and placed it in his wallet. "Be sure to read the school rules. Any violations will send you straight to the guidance office. And, if by chance you cause any problems, I won't be able to protect you at all." She informed him before turning to her boss "That IS your promise, right Principal Kobayakawa?"  
"That is correct." He nodded in agreement. "He is responsible for all his actions."  
"But, why me?" She wondered, crossing her arms. "There should've been better candidates."  
(I'm standing right here, you know.) The boy thought but kept it to himself. Getting a better look at his homeroom teacher, she looked exhausted. The bags under her eyes were a clear indication and judging from the tone of her voice, she appeared both stressed and tired.  
"It was a sudden transfer, your class was the only one that had an opening." He explained.  
"If you're done explaining things, mind if we get going?" Sojiro interjected. "I got a store to get back to."  
"Ah, of course." Kobayakawa nodded. "Sakura-san, please keep a close eye on him. Don't let him cause any trouble outside."  
"Well, I'll be sure to have a serious talk about the situation he's in." He assured them.  
Kawakami gave a small sigh which Ren took notice of. She must be really stressed out by all of this.  
(Guess a teacher's life is never easy.) He thought.  
"Come to the faculty office when you arrive at school tomorrow. I'll show you to your classroom." She told him.  
"Yes, Ma'am." He nodded there was a knock at the door.  
"Principal Kobayakawa, the Ryoshi's are here," said the receptionist.  
"Ah yes, please send them in," said the principal.  
"Come on, let get going," Sojiro said as he headed towards the exit.  
"Have a good rest of your day Sir. Ms. Kawakami-Sensei." Ren gave a bow to the two before following his guardian to the door.  
Sojiro was the first to leave. But before Ren could follow a girl stepped in. Her impatient eyes stopped at him as she tilted her head at Ren.  
Out of all the people in the room, her eyes were the kindest ones to look at him.  
Ren cleared his throat, indicating she was blocking the doorway she stepped away but slowly.  
As soon as they left the office, Sojiro groaned with annoyance as he turned to face his ward and said."That's what it means to have a criminal record. Looks like your past follows you wherever you go."Sojiro said before giving him one last warning. "By the way, if you get expelled now, I won't hesitate to kick you out. Got it?"  
Ren shrugged "I understand Sakura-san."  
"School never changes, huh?" The cafe owner made one last comment. "Come on, we're going home." He said as the two made their way out of the school and back to Sojiro's car.  
(Shujin Academy, huh?) Ren thought as the two left the premises.

Sadayo made her way through the courtyard as she thought over her meeting with her newest transfer student. To think, of all the teachers in the school, he had to be in her class. (Wouldn't a male teacher be best suited to teach someone like Amamiya?) He appeared to be polite but even so, she didn't know what to think.  
"What a troublesome situation, wouldn't you say?" Just then her thoughts were broken by one of her fellow teachers.  
"You could say that, Suguru-kun." She greeted the coach of the school's volleyball team.  
She placed a hand on her hip and sighed. "I can't believe they pushed someone with a criminal record on me."  
"I mean, how could they let someone like that into this school?" sighed Kamoshida.  
"Apparently his parents are affluent. A large donation and some favours will be called in by them to polish the school's reputation." said Ms. Kawakami.  
"And here I thought my volleyball team had contributed amply to that." said Kamoshida.  
"Yes, you've done so much for this school. It's been an incredible thing." said Kawakami.  
"Be careful, OK?" Kamoshida said before stretching his arms. "Then again, if anything were to happen, I'd kick a student out like that right away."  
"I'd keep wishing that he'd just end up not coming to school." She said before regretting her words a little.  
She just met him and was already expecting the worse of him. "Still, that isn't something I should be saying as a teacher.  
"It's understandable. You have a criminal in your class after all." He said. "Anyway, practice is about to end so I should be heading back."  
"Oh, right. The tournament's coming up, isn't it?" Sadayo changed the topic.  
"Hehe. Well the huge expectations from you and others is a problem itself. We're going to have to make up for the track team too. Anyway I gotta head off to practice. See you around. And hey, don't worry too much about that kid alright? I'll kick him out the school myself if something happens," said Kamoshida.  
"Y-Yes... that's true and thank you." She said looking away. The topic of the track team left a bad taste in her mouth.  
Especially after what happened to their star player. As her co-worker left she was left to contemplate her situation.  
"Why did it have to be my class? I can't do this again, not after..." She pushed those dark thoughts aside as she headed back to the teacher's lounge.

Ren found Sojiro's yellow VW Beetle to be comfy. Which was convenient, as they were stuck in traffic.  
"Goddamnit! Traffic's not moving at all." Sojiro complained.  
"You're taking the train starting tomorrow." He informed his ward before changing the subject. "So how was it? The school, I mean. Think you can manage?"  
"Mmm, we'll see. I think the principal probably dislikes me," said Ren.  
Sojiro suppressed a chuckle at least the kid had some dry humour."What a troublesome kid I've taken in," Sojiro said.  
"You know, I've been wondering about that. Despite everything you say, you still took me in. Why?" asked Ren.  
Sojiro averted his eyes. "I was asked. . .and I kinda happened to say yes. Plus, I got paid for it, so there's that," Sojiro said Ren felt like that was not the full answer.  
"Another train has derailed at Shibuya station, causing congestion in all traffic ways-" said the radio.  
"Explains this traffic jam," muttered Sojiro.  
"That's another accident," Ren observed.  
"There has been a lot of those lately," said Sojiro.

By the time they got back to the cafe, it was already evening. As the two entered Leblanc he heard his guardian let out a groan of annoyance.  
"Damn, to think there'd be that much traffic. What a waste of my time." He complained. "I wasn't able to open the cafe today."  
"I'm sorry, Sakura-san." Ren apologized, adjusting his glasses.  
"Whatever. Just head upstairs. There's something I need to give to you." Sojiro told him and the boy complied.  
Ren made his way back to his room and waited for Sojiro. As the man in question walked up the stairs, he was on his phone, reading off a news report.  
"Talk about a gruesome accident… Eighty people were involved." He said, likely in regards to the recent accident. He then pulled out a journal and tossed a diary at Ren.  
"What's this for?" asked Ren caching the diary.  
"It's a diary. Make sure you write in it. You may be under probation, but there are no special limitations on what you do in particular." Sojiro said.  
"Besides following the law?" Ren questioned.  
"Exactly. However, I'm obligated to report on you, which is why I'm having you record your daily activities." He said but before he could say anything else, his phone rang. He pulled it out and answered it. "Hello? Yes, I'm on my way right now. . .won't be long now."  
Whoever Sojiro had spoken to on the phone, had broken the frown he had for Ren and made him smile. (A woman in his life?) Ren wondered.  
"I'm about to leave right now. I'll see you soon." He hung up.  
"Well, I'm off, so do whatever you – well, not whatever you want. Don't trash the place or I'll report you to the police. Clear?" Sojiro said  
"I'll log it into the diary. Note to self: Don't destroy the place." said Ren.  
Sojiro tried not to show it but he was liking the kid now.  
"You got school tomorrow, so you better head off to bed." With a wave, he was gone.  
After he was finished, he placed it on the table. He went over to prep his things for school tomorrow.  
Despite people dismissing him, he wanted to make a good first impression at school. (Hopefully turnabout Ms. Kawakami's idea of him?)  
Ren checked his phone. No messages from home.  
After changing into his pajamas he sat on his bed, rubbing his head. Despite his bantering with Sojiro, All Ren felt was emptiness in his chest.  
Ren thought about that crazy dream (if that's what it was) with that Igor character.  
(What was happening to him?) (Is this what they called mental illness?) (Your own mind being an enemy?) Ren wondered.  
Just as Ren was about to fall asleep, he heard a phone ringing. Ren cocked his head to the stars. The ringing was coming from downstairs.  
Ren headed down and saw it was an old-fashioned yellow phone, that was ringing.  
Ren answered, "Hello?"  
"Yo, it's me." Sojiro said.  
"You're calling me on this public phone?" Ren asked.  
"I make a point not to keep guys' numbers on my phone," said Sojiro.  
(Not a bad rule.) Ren thought  
"Sakura-san? Is something wrong?" Ren asked.  
"Yeah I closed up the shop, but I forgot to flip the sign to CLOSED." The cafe owner informed him. "It's too much of a hassle for me to go back, so can you flip the sign for me?"  
"Sure. I can put this into my routine if you'd like. Turning the sign when you leave, every night," said Ren.  
"That would be useful. You do that then," The line clicked dead.  
It was probably a good thing, Sojiro was abrupt. The bell tinkled when someone entered the café. Ren placed the receiver down and faced her.  
The girl looked around the place, ignoring Ren's pointed stare. She had seen Café Leblanc numerous times from the outside, but decided it probably was not for her, given the old crowd that frequented the place.  
"I was right to track you here. Good thing we ran into each other today. I'm Rosa Ryoshi. What's your name?" said Rosa, holding out her hand.  
"We're closed," Ren said, warily. What did she want?  
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Closed-san,"Rosa said teasingly with an accent Ren couldn't place yet.  
She than propped herself on a stool by the counter. It did not look like she was going to leave. Ren folded his arms.  
"It's actually Ren. Ren Amamiya. What do you want?" Ren said.  
"Are you always this guarded? I was expecting someone more confident and easy-going," said Rosa.  
"Yeah well, I've been on a cool streak of disappointing people lately, so what do you what?" Ren asked.  
"Don't you recognize me?" Rosa asked.  
Ren then did a double take as he then remembered the girl in the principal office.  
"Your that girl from the school. Why are you here and how did you find me?" Ren demanded (does she know?)  
"I wanted to say hi, and find out what kind of person you are. You have me curious you know. As for how I found you I recognized Sojiro" said Rosa, shrugging sheepishly.  
"Did you overhear my meeting with Principal Kobayakawa this morning," Ren asked.  
Rosa nodded and said "I figured coming in here to tell you I know you're a convict might stress you out so lets get to know each other."  
"That's it?" Ren asked suspiciously.  
"Yep just looking for a friend before school starts is all." Rosa said.  
Ren sat down opposite to Shiori, at one of the tables.  
"Oh, you're also a Shujin student right?" asked Ren.  
Rosa noded and asked "And you're new?"  
"Yeah. Only moved into the neighbourhood yesterday," said Ren.  
"Had to change schools because of something you did, huh?" Rosa said  
Ren snorted "Something like that." he said with bitterness.  
Rosa's phone beeped. She checked the notification then got to her feet.  
"Hey, no need to be so emo about this. At least you've already made a friend before school has started." teased Rosa.  
"Do you want to travel to Shujin tomorrow together?" Rosa asked.  
"If that's alright with you. I haven't taken the morning train commute yet to Shujin." Ren said.  
"Sweet. Meet you in the morning then. Goodnight." Rosa said and left.  
The bell tinkled. Ren turned the sign then headed upstairs to bed. He felt slightly better than he did ten minutes ago.

After Rosa left, Ren decided to make use of the journal and wrote down what happened today.


	4. Joker's Awakening

As the alarm went off, Ren shot out of bed. He didn't have the dream about the velvet room again, it was just another dreamless night. He wanted to get more answers about what that long-nosed man meant about "ruin" but it seemed like that'll come another day. More importantly, it was the first day of school, he had to get ready.He picked up his uniform and went downstairs. While Sojiro was busy working, Ren remembered the bathhouse so that he could bathe and get ready for school. Thankfully, the bathhouse supplied him with what he needed. Once he finished, he put on his school uniform and returned to Leblanc to let the cafe owner know that he was about to head off to school. Once he returned to the cafe, he was greeted with a lovely smell. As he looked over at the counter he noticed a plate of curry was made, likely for him.  
"Morning, Sakura-san." He greeted his guardian.  
"Oh? You actually going to school, kid?" Sojiro replied seeing that he was dressed in his school uniform.  
"Might as well. Got nothing better to do." Ren joked which made his guardian's eyes roll.  
"Funny." Sojiro groaned before pointing to the plate. "Here."  
"Curry, huh?" Ren said as he eyed the meal in front of him.  
"What's that reaction for?"Sojiro questioned, wondering if he was going to complain.  
"It's nothing. Sorry." Ren said.  
Ren sat down, picked up a fork, gathered up some curry and rice, and took a bite. The taste was indescribable but so delicious.  
(I can really taste the complex flavors. How does he not get a lot of business, this is really good.) He thought and he finished the curry and gulped down a cup of coffee.  
"That was delicious. Thank you for the meal." Ren said, giving Sojiro his gratitude who gave the boy a smile for once.  
Well, what do you know? You do have manners." Sojiro noted.  
"I may be a 'delinquent' but I'm not that bad, you know." Ren quipped making his guardian chuckle a little.  
"We'll see. Now, hurry on to school. You'll end up late if you get lost on the way." Sojiro said.  
"Right." Ren said going upstairs to get his bag and wallet, preparing to leave.  
"Oh, be sure flip the sign outside to OPEN for me." He told him. "Now, hurry on out, delinquent."  
"No problem, old timer." He gave one last quip as he left the cafe, leaving a grumbling Sojiro to look after the shop.

"Oh, man. Did it say it was going to rain today." Said a man who was sitting at the counter in the safe confines of Cafe Leblanc. Sojiro caught on as he tended to the shop, looking over at his TV, he changed the channel to check the weather report.  
"Oh, crap." Sojiro said.  
"I know, right. This is why I hate early spring." His customer replied.  
"That reminds me, did he take an umbrella?" The cafe owner thought out loud as he wondered if his ward took one with him as he left.  
"Huh? Who're you talking about." The man wondered.  
"Oh, don't mind me." Sojiro shook his head. "So, what'll it be?"  
"One house blend please." His customer ordered.  
Sojiro changed the channel back to the news as he went to fix his customer his order.  
"The effects of yesterday's subway accident continues on today as various lines suffer delays and-"  
"There's been a lot of nasty accidents lately." The man said in reference to the accident yesterday. Seems the news is still talking about it. That, and previous unexplained accidents that happened in the past. "You know, I mean the subway accident that the news is talking about. My coworker got caught up in it and is in the hospital now. It's kinda creepy, considering the people who cause these accidents just go crazy for no reason. I even heard that some of them suffer from nervous breakdowns during interrogation."  
"Huh," Sojiro said as he processed this bit of information. Before he could offer a reply, his door opened and in came one of his frequent customers.  
"Morning Boss." She said.  
"Morning Niijima-san." Sojiro said.

As Ren walked over to the main streets of Yongen-Jaya, he ended up encountering Rosa and was surprised.  
Rosa had the pant's and jacket from the boys uniform while wearing a red hoodie with punk designs on it.  
"So you ready?" Rosa asked.  
Ren just nodded after arriving at the train station Ren decided to ask why the different uniform.  
"Didn't like it." was all Rosa said. 

(What a wonderful first day.) Ren said to himself as both he and Rosa arrived at Aoyama-Itchome only to be greeted with a torrent of rainfall.  
"Dang it, why didn't I bring an umbrella?" Rosa cursed as both she and Ren ran through the streets of Aoyama.  
As they ran, they stopped at a store called Jeunesse et Beaute to catch their breath. Ren leaned against the wall while Rosa crouched down, leaning against the glass window. Since they were early, they had some time to kill. Rosa chose to put in her earphones and listen to music, closing her eyes and tuned out the world around her.  
While Ren looked down at his phone just to notice that strange app from the other day once again tainting his phone. Before he could delete it again, it enlarged, covering the entire screen. (What is this app? Why does it keep showing up?) He questioned mentally. ("Might as well mess with it. And see what it is")

The clouds drifted over the Tokyo skyline, seeming to follow Ann on her way to school. A miserable Monday morning, perfectly encapsulating the loathing she felt for Shujin. Every day had been the same for a couple months now, with Shiho being the only bright spot. Everything else was just unwarranted rumors and harassment. The blonde tried her best not to let it get to her, and Shiho never gave them any sort of regard. But it grew more difficult the longer it went unchecked.

“Heeey, Takamaki-san…” a boyish voice called as she rounded the corner.

Ann rolled her eyes as she wandered down a narrow residential path, in plain sight of two Shujin boys perched on a stoop. From the lecherous tone they made out, the blonde knew exactly what was awaiting her. The Shujin boys leaned casually back on the steps, eyeing her up and down as they smirked. Thankfully, they were nobody she had class with. Just another couple of horny kids wanting in her skirt.  
One boy was skinny and sported a rather greasy head of shaggy hair. The other was overweight, with finely trimmed and short hair.

“Awful early on our way to school, aren't you?” the skinny boy asked, feigning innocence. “Meeting someone?”  
“Can’t imagine who,” the overweight boy proclaimed coyly, earning an amused chuckle from his companion. Ann bit her lips and merely pressed onwards. She would not give them the satisfaction of a response.  
“Why not spend it with the two of us, Takamaki?” the skinny boy continued. “I’m sure the three of us could have a good time before school.”  
“Fuck off,” Ann said, turning to them with her hands planted on her hips. Her initial plan had been too much for her to hold out on in the moment. The dreary weather and the utter disdain she had for the approaching school day had put her in no mood to deal with their nonsense. The boys felt differently, rather amused by her display of defiance.  
“Ooh, mouthy today, aren’t you?” the skinny boy taunted. “Well, I got something you can use your mouth on…” With a grin, he reached down and vigorously cupped his crotch through his plaid pants. His friend cackled amusedly, Ann released a heavy sigh and rolled her eyes once more.  
“Looks like you’re really struggling to find something down there,” she casually said.  
The skinny boy blinked in surprise, immediately ceasing. His large acquaintance held his stomach as he laughed at his friend’s expense.  
As the skinny one stammered for some sort rebuttal, Ann turned and continued onwards. She expected this to be the highlight of her day.  
“Ah, whatever, you stupid slut!” the boy called back. He waved his heavier friend along and proceeded the opposite way up the alley. “What’s with her attitude?”  
“Who knows?” the heaver boy responded. “Bitches be crazy like that sometimes. Maybe Kamoshida hasn’t fucked her in a while, and she’s horny.”  
“Could be it. Hey, if he won’t do it, I will.” the skinny boy said.  
“Watch yourself, dude. You know better than to step on Kamoshida’s turf.” Ann swiftly pulled her hood over her head and quickened her pace.

She closed her eyes and steadied her breathing, trying to regain her composure before stepping out into the chaos of the Shibuya streets.  
As Ann emerged from the isolated path back onto the major open street, she felt a pitter-patter against the fabric of her hood.  
She held out her soft hand and watched droplets of water form on her skin.  
“Seriously?” she asked softly to herself. Of all the ways the day could have gotten less enjoyable, rain proved to be the cherry on top. Not that she disliked rain.  
Far from it. She just disliked being caught in the rain. As of right now, it wasn’t too heavy.  
But she held no desire to trudge through it. Neither did anyone else before her, Shujin students scattered underneath their umbrellas, talking and laughing amongst themselves. Her stomach tightened at the sight of seeing everybody around her interact so easily with one another.  
It was a feat she had been unable to accomplish herself, save for the times spent with her only friend, Shiho.  
As she continued forward and emerged within full view of her fellow Shujin students, she spied several shifts of demeanour around her.  
The groups of students who had been so absorbed in their own trivialities just moments before halted any conversation they were having just to eye her pointedly.  
A boy to her right with slicked auburn hair nudged his friend before they began whispering to each other, Cheshire cat sized smirks plastered across their faces.  
A nudge to her back startled her into coherence as she was propelled forward.  
She grimaced as she glanced behind her shoulder to spy who the culprit was and immediately caught sight of two girls from her class, making it a point to glare at her before linking arms and laughing cruelly amongst themselves.  
Ann weaved between the groups of Shujin students scattered around the Station Square, likening them to landmines that she was trying to avoid stepping on before they could harm her.  
She tried to block out their whispers, but to no avail. Each word stinging her ears as though she had just walked faced first into a hornet’s nest.  
“Look, it’s Kamoshida’s whore.”-“Who does she think she is…? What a slut.”-“C’mon, man! She’s gotta be easy! I mean, look at her…”  
Her jaw began to ache from being clenched for such a prolonged time and she felt water start to well up in her tear ducts.  
Ann grit her teeth, willing herself to hold them back.  
She scanned the Station Square, trying to locate a haven where she could wait out the rain in peace.  
Ahead of her was a narrow red marquee, annexed onto the side of a clothing store that she frequented.  
Underneath the covering she spotted two people a tall boy with unkempt black hair and thick-rimmed glasses leaning against the wall of the store, gawking at the smart phone in his hand. His body was lean but had a natural slouch that portrayed him as lankier than he may have been.  
The other was clearly a girl who wearing pant's from the boys uniform as well as the jacket but under it was a hoodie with puck designs on it and she was crouching while listing to her right earbud's, her hair was brown that reached her shoulder's and was slightly spiky near it's end's.  
She concluded that they must have been new to the school, as she was sure that she hadn’t seen them once before today and she had spent a lot of time observing her classmates when sitting alone and waiting for Shiho to finish volleyball practice. With a sigh, Ann ventured over to the front entrance of a fashion store.

Rosa sighed, removing her left earphone.  
"Maybe we can leg it when the rain lightens up?" Rosa said to Ren, looking up at him.  
Before Ren said anything, someone crossed his field of vision.  
She brushed past the boy that she had already deemed ‘Glasses’ in her mind, taking her place a metre away from him as she planted herself underneath the red awning and faced the congested Shibuya streets. She removed her hood, trying to get a better view of the situation so that she could judge how long the rain would keep her marooned underneath the covering. In the corner of her eye she could detect Glasses’s eyes burning a hole in the side of her head, but for the sake of avoiding more conflict, she chose to ignore it.  
Once he gets his fill, he’ll look away, Ann thought to herself, angling her head so that she could acquire a better view of the clouds.  
The rain exhibited no signs of relenting. She sighed and resigned herself to being stranded there for a few more minutes whilst a complete stranger ogled her.  
Unable to stand being treated like a solitary fish on display at an aquarium, she turned toward the voyeur, expecting to come face to face with the same predatory gaze and demented smirk that Kamoshida sported every time that he looked at her.  
Instead she was met with eyes bearing a hue akin to dark steel, enigmatic and inquisitive, as they stayed shielded beneath the lens of his spectacles.  
Messy strands of jet-black hair hung lazily around the edges of his face and his thin lips were parted ever so slightly.  
There was no malice in his gaze and his overall demeanour did not betray any signs of a salacious intent.  
Rather he exhibited an almost childlike curiosity as continued to hold her gaze. Outwardly, he portrayed the visage of nondescript adolescent boy, evoking a mild air of mystery. But upon closer inspection, Ann took notice of his refined features, juxtaposed with a devilish aura that was only accentuated by the faint glint in his charcoal grey eyes  
Try as she might, she could not muster the anger and annoyance required to glare at him or berate him for staring too long. Instead she found herself smiling, a reflex that was almost unnatural for her when she was in the presence of anybody that wasn’t Shiho. She allowed a soft giggle to escape her lips before she swiftly turned her attentions back to the road ahead of her. Who is this guy? She asked herself, unsure as to why such a brief exchanged had suddenly piqued her curiosity.  
She allowed a few moments to pass before she begun to wonder if she should strike up a conversation with him, perhaps she could even befriend him before his opinion of her became tainted by the vicious rumours and gossip that surrounded her and dictated everyone’s disposition toward her.  
But ultimately that seemed inevitable and soon, he would just be another student snickering behind her back when she passed him in school.

Rosa coughed and cleared her throat feeling the need to remind these two that she was still here, but before they looked down at her all of there gazes went to a Sedan parking in front of them all. The window began to roll down slowly, but it needn’t have gone down all the way for Ann to ascertain who the driver was. She had seen this car stop alongside her almost every afternoon when she left school, it’s beige leather interior an all too familiar sight as its driver beckoned her to enter. Realising that she was in the company of two student's, Kamoshida wore a congenial expression to disguise his carnal intent.  
“Good morning!” he called to her. “Do you want me to give you a lift to school? You’re gonna be late.” Ren and Rosa realised he was talking to Ann.  
He had picked the most opportune time to make his move on her. Rainy day with little places to go and early before school. The last thing she wanted was to put up a struggle of resistance in front of strangers. Kamoshida wouldn’t do anything in public. Rather, it was what he might do were they alone together that worried her.  
“Um, sure, thank you…” Ann put on a gingerly tone for Kamoshida and the other's. It would arouse no suspicion of her reluctance to the stranger or her impromptu chauffeur.  
Kamoshida looked to Ren and Rosa. "Do you two want a ride too?" asked Kamoshida while manly looking at Rosa.  
Ann couldn’t help wishing they would say yes to the invitation. It would force Kamoshida to act civil around her a while longer. "We're good!" Rosa called back.  
But they didn’t, and she was left with him alone.  
Ann started to feel Kamoshida’s hand snake against her upper thigh he then brought it back onto the steering wheel as the car started moving.  
“Lucky I caught you when I did,” he finally said, tone still as cordial as when he invited her. “You oughta be careful who you associate with, Takamaki. There’ve been some nasty rumors going on about that boy.” Ann said nothing, merely folding her arms and staring out the window.  
“I don’t need to be babied, thank you,” Ann said coldly, Kamoshida merely gazed over at her with concern, a frown was sported on his muscular face.  
“Hey now, don’t be like that,” he mused, feigning hurt. “I’m just a teacher looking out for his favorite student.”  
“I thought teachers weren’t supposed to have favorites.” Kamoshida reached out and firmly laid his hand on her upper-inner thigh while his pinky started to stroke her crotch.  
It took all of Ann’s strength not to flinch in discomfort. “I just want you to be safe is all…” The gym teacher delivered a firm squeeze to her thigh, his three fingers digging inward. She squeaked a reply of gratitude in order to keep him satisfied. It seemed to work as Kamoshida relaxed his grip. But his hand still casually rested upon her inner thigh.  
Ann didn’t bother trying to move out of his touch. Instead resolving to wait until they arrived at school where she can go to class and be away from him for a good while.  
Through her peripheral, Ann could make out the smug and triumphant grin plastered on his face.

The car drove off. (Why did she go with him?) Ren wondered. She seemed so uncomfortable and he could tell that she was feigning kindness when that man offered her a ride so why did she just willingly go with him? Just who was that guy? he looked to his right and saw Rosa stand up, placing both earphones and her phone in her pocket as she saw what had transpired.  
"Friend of yours?" She asked teasingly.  
"I just met her." Ren said.  
"That right." she commented as they watched them drive off.  
Suddenly, Rosa felt someone bump into her from behind. Some kid with spiky blonde hair, who clearly wasn't looking where he was going, stopped in front of the duo,  
looking in the direction of where that girl and man drove off.  
"Dammit!" They heard him curse. "The hell's wrong with her?! Hanging out with that pervy teacher!"  
So that guy was a teacher, all the more reason for Ren to be confused as to why she would go with him. However, that little comment about him being pervy caught him off guard.  
"Pervy teacher?" Ren questioned.  
When he spoke, the blonde kid heard him and turned to face the two. They noticed that like the girl, his uniform was more modified.  
He wore the school's black blazer, unbuttoned, much like Rosa's, to reveal a yellow t-shirt with a comic style star symbol and the word 'ZOMG!'  
He has plaid trousers rolled up to reveal his ankles.  
His pants have black suspenders that hang down instead of being worn on his shoulders, a white belt, and white sneakers that have a rising sun flag motif.  
That comment Ren made caused the boy to give the two a harsh glare and approached them.  
"What do you want?" He said aggressively. "You plannin' on rattin' me out to Kamoshida?"  
"Who now?" asked Ren. "Huh?" He gave him a questioned look. "In that car that just drove off, that was Kamoshida." His face contorted into an even bigger frown. "He does whatever the hell he wants. Who does he think he is, the king of a castle? Fucking Asshole."  
"King of the castle?" Ren replied. "Which castle?"  
"No, not an actual castle. I mean..." The blonde stopped as he looked at both of them. They wore the school uniforms but he was sure he's never met these two before. Strange, especially since they seem to be his age. "Wait. You don't know Kamoshida? Are you for real? You guys are from Shujin, right?"  
"Umm I'm not a guy dude." Rosa said.  
The blonde then did a double take and said "Sorry my bad. So do you two go to Shujin?" and asked  
They both nodded and Rosa asked "You go to Shujin as well?"  
"Well, yeah. No other high school's got a uniform like this." The blonde replied.  
"We're transfer students dude of course we don't know who you're talking about." Rosa said.  
So that's why they wouldn't know who Kamoshida was. "OH! You guys are transfer students! And second-years as well, so we're in the same grade. No wonder you guys don't know him." He finished before scratching the back of his head, a little embarrassed as he understood that he was being aggressive for no reason. "Sorry for being an asshole."  
"No biggie." Rosa said "Anyway, I'm Sakamoto Ryuji. Nice to meet you guys." He greeted the two.  
"I'm Rosa Ryoshi and this is Closed-san." Rosa said in that foreign accent Ryuji looked at Ren confused.  
But before this could get any more weird Ren introduced himself "I'm Amamiya Ren, Well met."  
"Right. You can just call me Ryuji." He said seeing that the rain was dying down, he made a comment. "This rain ain't too bad. You guys wanna tag?" "Sure," said Ren.  
As Ryuji turned around, in a split second, the world around them appeared distorted and a wave of pain coursed through their heads. "Ugh…!" The three grunted.  
"Uuugh, my head hurts…" They heard Ryuji said. "Damn it, I wanna go home." With that, he started walking away.  
"Through here, new guys." Ryuji led the two through an alley. "We can take a shortcut through here. It'll lead us right to the school gate."  
The two transfer students followed the spiky blonde through the alley to get to school. As they went through the supposed "shortcut", Ren started to feel a little weird. He couldn't put his finger on it but something was strange. He felt as if the atmosphere around him had changed but couldn't find the words to describe it.  
Ren looked up, stopping in his tracks.  
"What's wrong?" Rosa asked.  
There was something isolated and quiet about the rest of Aoyama-Itchome - with just the three of them in this alley. "Forget it," said Ren.  
They exited the alleyway and arrived at Shujin Academy. Or at least, where Shujin was supposed to be.  
It wasn't Shujin Academy, one of the best prep schools in all of Tokyo, Japan.  
Instead, the three 2nd year's gazed upon not their school, but a large castle in its place.  
"I thought you were being figurative when you said, 'king of the castle', Ryuji," said Ren.  
"Wait, what the heck? We did go the right way right?" said Ryuji.  
"We did," said Rosa The three of them stared at the strange castle. Torchlights hued its bottom-half in orange. Top-half was pink, thanks to a saturated sky.  
"The Shujin Academy letter plate is here," said Ryuji.  
OooooK," she said slowly.  
"Let's go in and find out what this is about," said Ren.

Instead of the school lobby entrance, they found themselves in what seemed to be an expensive movie set. Ash and blue stained chandeliers chinked above red carpets and dark stone floors. Lightning flashed in from the windows followed by thunder, which had the undertones of laughing.  
Ren swept his eyes past the purple banners and stopped at the grand stairs witch had a massive picture of that man named Kamoshida.  
"I don't get it. Why does the school look like this?" asked Ryuji pulling out his phone only to see that there were no bars. "Out of service? Where'd we end up?  
Rosa walked a further bit away from the boys.  
She peeked through a castle window and saw waves crashing against sharp rocks, with a harbour surrounding them as well as three ships docked.  
"Guys, something's not right here," Ren said as a feeling danger coursed through his body.  
Rosa rounded to the guys and said "We should leave,"  
"Huh?" Before Ryuji could reply they saw something walking towards him. In came a man dressed up as a knight, armed with a sword and shield approached them. His identity was concealed by a blue mask and judging from the way he was looking at them, Ren could tell it wasn't friendly. "Geez, you freaked me out… Who're you? This some kind of prank?" Ryuji asked and approached the knight to get a better look. "Man, your cosplay is impressive. Is that armor real?" He asked but he got no answer. He crossed his arms, agitated by this guy's silent treatment. "Hey, don't ignore me. Explain dammit."  
"Ryuji," hissed Rosa. "What?" Ryuji asked, looking back at them.  
"Wait. I don't think he's..." Before Ren could interject, another knight, nearly identical, approached them, standing next to his partner.  
Ryuji's jaw dropped. The second one of the knights swung its hilt at Ryuji's temple, knocking him out.  
"Rosa, run and get Ryuji. I'll try to buy you some time," said Ren, dropping his bag.  
Ren tried to circle around but the knight on the right slashed at the ground, arcing a short wall of flames stopping Ren from trying anything.  
"Alright bet Ren!" Rosa shouted but before Rosa could move, she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. The hand of another of those Knights.  
The knight that surprised Rosa, flung her against the wall, Rosa slid to the floor, her vision darkening. She could make out Ren shouting something, trying to get to her but a knight grabbed him by the head and slammed his skull into one of the pillars knocking him out as well.  
Rosa vision was going dark and all it took was one of there foot smashing her head to finish it.

Ren woke up with a headache. (What had happened?) Oh yeah, he had some nightmare about this weird castle, with Rosa and some guy and they were attacked by these medieval jerks.Ren rolled out of the cot, expecting to see the attic of Leblanc. He instead found himself in a cell. Which probably belonged to the castle in his nightmare. Which was probably not a nightmare. "You all right? " Ryuji asked.  
Ren touched his forehead, feeling dried blood. Ren had anticipated a lot of things for his first day at Shujin, but this was not part of the list.  
"I'll live." Ren replied. "What about you?"  
"Yeah, more or less." The blonde said as he looked around the cell. "Looks like this ain't no dream."  
"Guess it's..." Ren stopped for a moment before he realized that it only he and Ryuji were in this cell. "Wait, where's Rosa?!"  
"I don't know, I didn't see her when I woke up. I guess they took her somewhere else." He groaned, kicking the ground in annoyance. "Ugh, what the effs goin' on!?" He ran towards the cell door and started banging on it, hoping to get someone's attention. "Hey, let us outta here you bastards!  
Ren stood and leaned against the wall, trying to steady his walk with his throbbing headache, his hand stopped against a studded metal plate.Torture manacles were attached to it. No one attached to it though. His senses were rattled by the pain in his head, Ren could make out a crowd jeering. Ren gripped the bars of his cell and tried to survey what was happening outside with Ryuji. "YAAAAARRRRGH!" came a scream from outside of their cell. This was some sort of medieval in-door battle arena. With their cell hanging from the ceiling.  
From Ren's vantage point, he saw the stands were filled to the brim monsters of all kind screaming at the bloodsport happening below.  
The crowd leered as blood spilt on the sands. Ryuji saw what appeared to be high school students in their P.E uniforms. One of the students, a blue-haired boy, got kicked by a knight in blood red armor with a furred cape that was armed with a spear. The crowd roared with a cheer, at the one-sided blood entertainment."Shit that's Mishima!" Ryuji said.  
"These ones have been expended. Take them away. Bring in the new intruders to the battle arena." with that said there cell started to lower.

Ryuji spat out the sand when he was chucked into the arena. Beside him, Ren was brushing off the sand from his uniform. Ren held out a hand to Ryuji, who took it, being careful to push himself up with his good leg."Thanks," said Ryuji.  
"On a scale of one to ten, how bad do we have it right now?" asked Ren.  
"Man, I can't make up my mind if I'm more bewildered or scared right now," said Ryuji.  
Ren shrugged. Like Ryuji, Ren also felt a mix of emotions. His chest carried a strange sensation, like there was a cold fire burning inside of him, yearning to get out. Another part of himself felt relieved at the thought of dying. After everything he had been through since that night, maybe this was an escape from the loneliness and the way he was being treated. Ms. Kawakami would probably be relieved to not see his burdensome self, show up to school. A lump formed at Ren's throat. Was that truly his feelings? No goodbyes to his parents? Not hearing Hana, Momo or Rei's voice one more time?  
(It would seem you are not ready to give up.) echoed a male voice. Who was that? Ren wondered. Ryuji had not reacted so he did not hear it.  
The red knight stated "Be glad that your punishment has been decided upon." He said. "Your charge is 'unlawful entry'. Thus, you will be sentenced... to death."  
The crowed started to cheer louder. The two took a few steps back in shock as they heard the knight say that they will be put to death.  
"Say what!?" Ryuji said in shock from the punishment they chose to give them.  
"Well well well. I was told there were intruders in the castle, but I did not think it would be you, Sakamoto. Interesting accomplices too., came a voice from the box seat.  
The crowd went quiet, like a heavy noise suddenly turned off with a switch.  
A man wearing a crown and red cloak emerged to the edge of the box seat. Ren recognised him. It was the guy who gave Ann Takamaki a ride this morning.  
To his left was a pink headed man in butler outfit and to his right was a pillar with Rosa changed to it with most of her clothes torn off and in tatters showing her to be half naked.  
"Kamoshida," Ryuji said in an astonished tone.  
"That's King Kamoshida to you, scum," said Shadow Kamoshida.  
Shadow Kamoshida made a gesture and the box seat began to lower towards them Knights then entered the arena, imposing on the two prisoners. Ren counted ten of them.  
"LET ME DOWN RIGHT FUCKING NOW!" Rosa shouted Kamoshida only looked at her then to the butler and the butler backhanded her.  
"Oh I'm sooo killing you fu- another backhand Ryuji started to say something but Ren could only hear that voice again. As it started off with a chuckle.  
It would seem Moll has chosen a fiery one. Yet you're the key to the awakenings, Trickster. If we fail to make a contract, she won't heed her call, said the voice.  
Trickster. That's what Igor called him. Who are you? asked Ren. The cold fire sensation in Ren's chest started growing moreintense'.  
"Heh. We'll see if you've still got that spunk once I've broken you and have you pinned on my throne for a hard fuck," Kamoshida leered at Rosa.  
"You bastard, this isn't funny!" shouted Ryuji. Shadow Kamoshida struck Ryuji down. When Ren tried to help, two Knights restrained him, Kamoshida punched Ryuji square in the face. Then another, then another. "Lowly scum!" He threw out as he continued punching him, giggling at the pain he was causing the poor boy.  
"Worthless pest!" With one final strike, he knocked him to the ground. He then spat on him, as if he was nothing more than a piece of trash to get rid of.  
"What's the matter, Sakamoto? Where'd your energy from earlier go?" He asked before Shadow Kamoshida stomped on Ryuji's bad leg.  
The scream that tore out of Ryuji was beyond what human's are capable of by Ren and Rosa.  
"Stop it, you're hurting him!" growled Ren.  
"Hm?" Kamoshida turned around to face the other prisoner, giving him a vile glare. "What? Don't tell me you don't know who I am."  
"I don't, but you know what?" Ren replied with a glare of his own. "I. Don't. Care."  
"GRRRR!" The King growled at the boy's insolence. "It's the same look that bitch from earlier gave me...and it pisses me the fuck off!" He kicked him in the stomach, falling in the sand. "Hold him there… After this piece of shit, it's his turn to die." He turned away to focus on Ryuji.  
One of the Knights picked up Ryuji's trembling profile. Ren saw his face was tear-streaked.  
"I thought I taught you a good lesson when I broke that leg of yours, but it seems that was not enough to quell your insolence," seethed Shadow Kamoshida.  
Ren and Rosa winced. The blow to Ryuji's chest was so strong, a rib cracked.  
"That's not necessary," Rosa begged.  
"Shut up, bitch! I'll do as I please!" The King said.  
"No. I meant about you and me. If you want my body you can have it, sensei," said Rosa.  
Shadow Kamoshida, raised his hand to tell the butler to let Rosa free she then walked slowly towards the king.  
Shadow Kamoshida was slack-jawed. Rosa's voice turned husky - she was right in front of Shadow Kamoshida right now.  
"How about right here? Having a girl undress for you is the hottest thing ever."  
Rosa placed her hand on both side's of Kamoshida's face rising them until she tried to gouge out his eye's.  
Rosa was fast. But the red knight was suddenly in-between Rosa and his king, his fur cloak billowing.  
the red knight, grabbed Rosa by the throat, raising her up. In his other hand, his lance started to produce flames.  
Time became slow for Ren. (This is truly an unjust game… Your chances of winning are almost none But if my voice is reaching you, there may yet be a possibility open to you.)  
As Ren debated with the voice within him, one of the knights grabbed Ryuji by the neck, hoisting him up, and placed his blade near his chest.  
(Are you going to stand by there and do nothing? Forsake your friend's?)  
(The last time I was in this situation). . .thought Ren. (A painful end awaits them at your inaction. Was your previous decision a mistake?)  
Ren thought about that night that changed everything for him. Someone asked Ren to help. He helped. He paid a terrible price. Was it a mistake? Was it. . .a mistake to do good and be seen as a villain? (If society is so insistent on vilifying me, then I might as well play along.) Ren said to the voice.  
Very well! I have heeded your resolve!  
"A-AARGH!" Pain suddenly coursed through Ren.  
Vow to me.  
He struggled against the Knights as the pain increased, becoming almost too much to bear.  
I am thou, thou art I.  
Thou who art willing to perform sacrilegious acts for thine own justice!  
Call upon my name, and release thy rage!  
Show the strength of thy will to ascertain all on thine own, though thou be chained to Hell itself!  
The walls trembled, cracks crept on the arena walls. the source of the disturbance had come from Ren who was ripping a mask off.  
He grabbed at the mask with both hands and ripped the mask off with all of his strength. "AHHHHHHH!"  
It felt as if his skin was being ripped off of him but it had to come off. He was successful but he was blinded by the blood now pouring from his eyes "Hehe..."  
It was funny. How stunned everyone looked at him ripping off that mask. The fear that now entered Kamoshida's eyes as he felt something change within the boy.  
"HAHAHAHAHA!" He laughed as the power began to overwhelmed him. He could hear the crackling of chains, as the voice that raged within him took a physical form behind him.  
It wore a red jacket over a black business suit that came with a cravat. His wore a mask that seemed to act as his face but beneath it were flame's, they formed the shape of a demonic face, sharing the same confident smirk Ren had, that came with horns and a top hat. But it wasn't just the being that was out of place. Ren's attire and eye's had changed - a black and white birdlike domino mask on his face, a dark tailcoat over a tall collared waistcoat, complemented by a frisky gentleman's legging,his blood red eye's with a pair of glove's of the same color he now wears.  
Ren raised his arms and the being's wings came out of his back, pushing and slicing his enemies with a torrent of wind.  
Signifying the end of their lives. Kamoshida fell in fear as looked upon a demon in the making.

**Author's Note:**

> Samruai is supposed to yoroi musha from the hero billboard chart jp in chapter 96.chainsaw-man is a cameo in chapter 259  
> And Swallow is supposed to be the hero who caught toga and MR. compress in chapter 266. If any of yall know if he has real hero name let me know please.


End file.
